Honey-roast chicken with roast sweet potatoes

You may recognise this shot as one of the rolling images on our home page which were taken by photographer Jason Ingram and styled by Genevieve Taylor. The dish was so delicious I had to pass on the recipe which comes from Louise Walker's Aga Roast.

You don't have to have an Aga to make it, by the way - you can cook it in a conventional oven.

Serves 6

1.75kg/4lb chicken

1 orange

1 bunch spring onions

110g/4oz honey

3 tablespoons olive oil

1⁄2 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground coriander

2 teaspoons cumin

Salt and pepper

1kg / 21⁄4 lbs sweet potatoes

1 tablespoon chopped coriander

Line a roasting tin with Bake-O-Glide. Put in the chicken.

Grate the rind from the orange and put in a basin. Finely chop half the bunch of spring onions. Add the honey, oil, cloves, paprika, coriander, cumin and salt and pepper. Use half the mixture to brush the chicken inside and out.

Slice the orange and chop the remaining onion. Use half to put in the chicken cavity and sprinkle the remaining onion over the chicken and the remaining orange slices on the chicken breast.

Hang the tin on the third set of runners from the top of the roasting oven and calculate the roasting time at 20 minutes per 450g/1lb plus 20 minutes. (Gen also put some foil over the bird halfway through to stop the sweet marinade over-browning.)

Meanwhile, peel and cut the sweet potatoes into chunks and toss with the remaining honey mixture. After the first 30 minutes of roasting the chicken add the potatoes round the bird. Remove the orange slices if browning too much.

Roast for the remaining time. The chicken should have a dark golden skin.

Test that the chicken is cooked and then remove the chicken to a warm plate and scatter the coriander over the sweet potatoes.

Serve the sweet potatoes with any pan juices and chunkily carved chicken.

Serve with a plain green salad to offset the sweetness of the chicken and sweet potatoes.

Conventional cooking: Roast at 190°C/375°F/Gas mark 5.

Aga Roast by Louise Walker is published by Absolute Press.

What to drink: You need something with a touch of sweetness to cope with the sweetness and spiciness of the marinade. I'd suggest a Barossa Valley or South African Shiraz or a Grenache or, if you prefer a white, a full-bodied Viognier.

100 calorie monkfish chermoula

A main course for 100 calories? Yes, that's possible in Kalpna Woolf's inspiring and original new book Spice Yourself Slim which explores how spices can enhance your diet.

Of course you'll need some veggies too but it will still work out remarkable low in calories.

Kalpna writes: I am always keen to experiment with storecupboard spices to create new and exciting flavours and bring more taste and goodness to my dishes. This marinade is probably one of the most versatile and delicious you can make. The ingredients can vary, but normally, roasted cumin and coriander seeds are mixed with saffron, ginger, garlic, paprika and fresh parsley and coriander.

Chermoula is a powerful combination of taste and spice equilibrium that originates from North Africa, and the mix definitely evokes the smells and tastes of that region and Moroccan souks and medinas. This can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator for a few days.

Serves 4

Calories per serving: 102

Ingredients

300g/10.oz monkfish fillets, cut into thick 10–15cm/4–6in chunks

For the chermoula marinade

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp coriander seeds

½ tsp ground paprika

1 tsp chilli (red pepper) flakes or cayenne pepper (optional)

½ tsp finely chopped fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped

5–6 saffron threads, soaked in 2 tbsp warm water for 3–4 minutes

juice of 1 lemon, set aside 1 tbsp for the fish

2 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

a large handful of fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, finely chopped

a small handful of fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped

Method

To make the chermoula marinade, heat a small, heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat. Add the cumin and coriander seeds and gently dry-fry for 3–4 minutes until roasted and the aroma is released (be careful that the seeds don’t burn). Allow to cool, then grind in a food processor or pestle and mortar into a powder. Place the powder and all the remaining ingredients, including the water from the saffron, in a food processor and blend into a medium-thick paste.

Place the fish on a foil-lined baking tray and spoon over the chermoula paste, spreading it over all sides of each piece of fish. Cover with foil and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 15–20 minutes.

Preheat a grill to medium.

Remove the foil cover from the fish, place the baking tray under the grill and cook the fish for about 8 minutes. When the fish is cooked, squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon over the fish and serve.

Tips

Although this recipe is for fish, you can use this marinade for chicken and lamb dishes (if marinating meat, leave the marinade for longer and even overnight to infuse).

For a delicious vegetarian option, marinate a selection of vegetables and roast with the chermoula paste.

What to drink:
I'm assuming you're probably not drinking with this if you're trying to lose weight 😉 but a small glass of dry rosé would be a good match.

Extracted from Spice Yourself Slim by Kalpna Woolf which is published by Pavilion Books. Photography © Clare Winfield. You can find Kalpna's website on www.kalpnawoolf.com

Tom Parker-Bowles Neapolitan Ragù

If you think you have the ultimate bolognese recipe, think again. Try this fantastic version from Tom Parker-Bowles book Let's Eat Meat. I love Tom's style of writing - do read the great introduction:

"Ah, Naples. Considered by many as filthy, dirty and dangerous, a southern Italian wretch who has seen better days. But for me it’s Italy’s greatest city, endlessly invaded and occupied, but endlessly sexy, thrilling and beautiful. It’s also home to the best cooking in the country, as well as two of my favourite restaurants in the world (Da Dora for fish and DaMichele for pizza). This is still a poor area of the country, and meat doesn’t play a huge role in its traditional cookery. But this slow-cooked ragù is a masterpiece, the pride of every Sunday lunch, simmered and devoured with love and lust.

‘You must stay with it, guide it, caress it for hours,’ writes Jeanne Carola Francesconi in La Cucina Napoletana, ‘so that the aromas of its various components can be released and mingle with each other.’ This isn’t mere tomato sauce, rather Neapolitan lifeblood. I’ve adapted this recipe from Arthur Schwartz’s magnificent Naples at Table. It tastes even better after reading Naples ’44, Norman Lewis’s masterpiece on this most magical and seductive of cities."

Serves 6–8

1–2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

250g/9oz rindless pork belly, cut into large chunks

250g/9oz stewing veal

250g/9oz beef shin, cut into chunks

2 onions, finely chopped

½ bottle (37.5cl) of punchy red wine

3 x 400g/14oz cans of chopped tomatoes

big pinch of sea salt

big pinch of dried chilli flakes

handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large heavy pot over a medium–high heat and brown all the meat, in separate batches, until well browned – around 5 minutes for each batch. Start with the pork belly as it will release some fat, but add more oil if the meat starts to stick.

After removing the final batch of meat, tip the onions into the pan and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes, until soft, stirring and scraping up the crisped bits of meat stuck on the bottom of the pan.

Return all the meat to the pan, add the wine and reduce over a high heat.

Add the tomatoes, salt and chilli and simmer very gently for 3–4 hours. Stir every 15 minutes or so, skimming off any excess fat. You may need to add a little water, 100ml/3½fl oz at a time, if the sauce begins to stick in the last couple of hours.

The Neapolitans would remove the meat and serve the sauce with pasta to start, then serve the meat separately for a next course. But I like it all together. Scatter on the parsley and serve with a pile of cooked fusilli or spaghetti.

Extracted from Let's eat Meat: Recipes For Prime Cuts, Cheap Bits And Glorious Scraps Of Meat by Tom Parker Bowles, published in hardback by Pavilion, priced £25. Photograph © Jenny Zarins.

What to drink: I think you need a hearty Italian red with this dish. A Taurasi might well be the local choice but other Aglianicos would work. You could also try a Sicilian red such as Nero d'Avola or even a Barbera even though it comes from the other end of the country. FB

Soup for Syria: spiced red lentil soup

I don't often post commercial recipes but this delicious soup from London restaurant Arabica Bar & Kitchen is being promoted in a very good cause.

All profits from the soup, which they're selling in their restaurant throughout January, are being donated to 'Soup for Syria', the humanitarian cookbook project fronted by food writer Barbara Abdeni Massaad. The money raised will go to the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR to help provide urgently needed food relief for Syrian refugees.

Serves 4 generously

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil

2 small onions, diced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp ras el hanout

½ tsp urfa chilli flakes

1 bay leaf

2 tsp tomato paste

200g red lentils

3 tsp pomegranate molasses

1- 1.2 litres hot water

Sea salt to taste

Black pepper

To finish

Fresh thyme leaves

Sumac

Fried onions or shallots (Available from any oriental supermarket)

Black pepper

Method

Peel and finely dice the onion.

Heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan, add the onions and cook on a low heat until they soften, become translucent and give off their natural sweetness.

Add the garlic, bay leaf, and ras el hanout and continue to cook on a low heat for further minute stirring continuously.

Add the tomato paste, red lentils and slowly add 1 litre of boiling water mixing as you go. Finally add the pomegranate molasses. Bring to the boil. Skim the surface if necessary. Lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes or till the lentils are fully cooked and begin to break down.

Blend the soup to a smooth consistency and season with salt to taste. If the soup is too thick add more water.

To serve ladle into deep soup bowls, drizzle with olive oil, liberally sprinkle with crispy onions, a pinch of cracked black pepper, a few fresh thyme leaves and a tiny pinch of citrusy sumac.

What to drink: I'm not sure you really need anything to drink with this apart from water - I mean it is January, right? But I wouldn't say no to a glass of Domaine des Tourelles red from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon